Update in Post 10: IQ Testing

[Gena]

DS is due for his 3-year re-evals for special ed services and I need to sign all the paperwork for consent.

So once again, I am facing the question: do I want to consent to IQ testing?

In the past, i have always refused IQ testing, due concerns that they would not be able to get an accurate score due to his young age the need to get a better understanding of how his disorders will affect the testing.

The school district thinks that now, at age 7 (really almost 8 by the time they do the testing), they can get an accurate score. I'm still unsure. Due to the verbal language processing dificulties related to his autism, I don't think a traditional IQ test (which is very verbal-based) will give an accurate result. Non-verbal IQ tests are generally based on visual tasks and DS's vision impairment makes that problematic as well. However, another parent advised me that even if the overall IQ results are not accurate on the traditional test, how DS performs on different subtests can give useful information about how he learns and what accommodations he needs. I think that could be very helpful to us and the DS's teachers.

Have you had IQ testing done on your Special Needs child? If so what kind of test was done? Do you think it was accurate? Do you think it was helpful? If you refused IQ testing, what were your reasons?

[Pepper]

DS1 is up for his 3 year eval too and we are just getting the paperwork together. I am requesting IQ testing this time, on the recommendation of the developmental ped that did DS1's developmental eval in August.
He was originally in SPED for speech and language delays from his cleft palate, then other services were adding in preschool for his behavioral challenges. The developmental ped is private (part of our regular ped's practice); he dx for DS1 was ADHD combined type and possibly some other things. She recommended the IQ test to make sure that DS1's education need were being met (her words on the evaluation).

DS1 is pretty smart and I think the IQ test would be helpful. Currently he's in a individual management classroom for kindy and will probably be there for 1st grade. My hope is that, once he's ready for a regular classroom, we can move him into the gifted program. His kindy teacher told me she thought he belonged in the gifted program (eventually!) but wouldn't qualify because of his poor handwriting skills...so I'm thinking that an IQ test would strengthen our case (assuming he's as smart as I think he is :)!)

You could ask the person giving the test how they handle it when the child seems unable/unwilling to participate. Our devel ped told me that she gave DS1 some education scale thing but didn't report the score - she said he was too distracted and the score would not be accurate. Hopefully your testing person has some experience with ASD and less-verbal kids.

ETA: I just re-read my post and realized that I don't sound very nice...I'm sorry. It was a hurried afternoon and in my rushing attempt to be helpful I didn't take the time to read my post before submitting it.

[mytwosons]

I always declined. I was not sure they would get an accurate result and I feared how that result would color their interaction with DS.

If I thought there was value to the having the testing performed, I would go outside the district and have someone I was confident in perform the testing. After receiving the score I would decide whether or not to share the result with the school.

[inmypjs]

My 7 yo DS's recent testing did include IQ testing, but the situation was a little different since we did it privately. It's really our choice whether or not to share the IQ results with the school. I don't know how I would feel if I knew the school would automatically see the full results and might make decisions based on it.

That said, I found the results of DS's IQ testing to be very helpful. And they do seem to reflect his current strengths and weaknesses. When I saw the scores, I thought - well, those makes sense. His verbal reasoning scores were off the chart and could probably help him get into some gifted programming. His visual and spatial scores were much lower and definitely reflected the perceptual difficulties he is having. And since we suspected a learning disability, the rather large discrepancy between the scores was revealing.

From everything I read prior to the testing, most psychologists consider kids' IQ scores to be a moving target, and in the case of any kind of disability, I think they are more interested in the individual sub scores than the total IQ score. I had a conversation with the psychologist we used prior to testing - I asked how valid IQ testing was for a newly 7 year old. He pretty much told me what I just stated - that it will change throughout their development, but it will give a decent picture of where they are now.

In your situation, I think before I would consent to the testing, I would want to know exactly how the scores would be used and what decisions would be made based on the results. Also do you have a relationship with the person doing the testing? I felt good about the person we used, so that also made me more comfortable.

p.s. They used the most recent WISC with DS - the WISC IV I think.

[Gena]

Thanks, you've all given me some things to thing about.

I have considered getting the IQ testing done privately, so that we could decide if we want to share the information with the school. The dev ped actually recommends a full private neuropsychological evaluation at this age, but cost is a major factor.

ETA: Pepper, what is an "individual management classroom"?

[Pepper]

Thanks, you've all given me some things to thing about.

I have considered getting the IQ testing done privately, so that we could decide if we want to share the information with the school. The dev ped actually recommends a full private neuropsychological evaluation at this age, but cost is a major factor.

ETA: Pepper, what is an "individual management classroom"?

You know, I don't know what the actual definitiion is (she admitted, embarrassed). It's a very small class -eight kids, one teacher, two aides. It's combined kindy and first grade. Our district has IM classrooms up until 8th grade I think. The younger kids are at my sons school and then in4th grade (I think) they go to another school in the district, if they still need IM.

DS1 was placed there as part of his IEP from our public preschool. He did not have the ADHD dx when they did the IEP. But, there was a 2-year history of very hyperactive, impulsive, and often aggressive behavior, with lots of services provided that helped somewhat but not enough to put him in a regular classroom.

I don't know the specific special needs of the other kids in his class. His school also has an integrated classroom of usual size, 25kids, half of which are on IEPs and half are not. The district also has a new ASD classroom but it's at another school and I haven't heard much about it.

For us, the IM class is working well. DS1 needs lots of attention and can quickly escalate when he gets upset.

[Gena]

You know, I don't know what the actual definitiion is (she admitted, embarrassed). It's a very small class -eight kids, one teacher, two aides. It's combined kindy and first grade. Our district has IM classrooms up until 8th grade I think. The younger kids are at my sons school and then in4th grade (I think) they go to another school in the district, if they still need IM.



That's very interesting. It sounds a little like DS's classroom. DS's class is mixed K-2, with about 8 students, a teacher and 2-3 aides. Do the students in your son's class get instruction as a group or individually?

In DS's class the kids are taught individually for most things, but do some small group instruction as well. DS's class uses the TEACCH method (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children).

It's always fascinating to learn what other special ed classrooms are like.

[Pepper]

That's very interesting. It sounds a little like DS's classroom. DS's class is mixed K-2, with about 8 students, a teacher and 2-3 aides. Do the students in your son's class get instruction as a group or individually?

Well, I'm not sure! This thread is making me realize how little I know about all of this :-) I think they are mostly taught in a group, with some individual instruction since the kids are in different grades. I don't think they have to sit at their desks all the time: one day when I visited the classroom all the kids were sitting on their spots on the rug while the teacher talked about "what is a sentence." They have some computers in the classroom for the kids to use Lexia, which is a reading program. I don't how how they structure the time for the kids to use it but some kids are at the computers while others are working on other activites.

I would imagine that in the ASD classroom there is more individual instruction. I did go to a meeting of the parent group (SEPAC - special ed parent advisory comittee) and the next time they have a meeting, I'll ask these questions. We have a new school superintendent this year who has a background in SPED, so everyone is pretty happy and hoping that there will be some improvements forthcoming. But honestly, when I hear other parents' stories of what they go through, I think that our school district is pretty good to begin with.

[jren]

Thanks, you've all given me some things to thing about.

I have considered getting the IQ testing done privately, so that we could decide if we want to share the information with the school. The dev ped actually recommends a full private neuropsychological evaluation at this age, but cost is a major factor.

ETA: Pepper, what is an "individual management classroom"?

Sorry so late in seeing this. My DD had neuropsych testing done and IQ test was a component of that. She was 7, almost 8. Since it's one-on-one with the psychologist, she was able to tell when the results were low due to lack of motivation and those scores (for the overall neuropsych) weren't included. Everything was covered by insurance because it's not considered educational testing, even though it tells a ton about how she learns. I was then able to take that evaluation to the school to try to get testing on just the educational component.

[Gena]

I wanted to give an update on DS's IQ testing.

We were able to get DS's IQ testing done privately. His psychologist at Children's Hosptial did the test and my insurance covered the cost. The psychologist has known DS since he was 3, and has a lot of experience testing kids with various issues. She gave DS lots of breaks and rewarded him with stickers after each subtest.

She did both a traditional test and a non-verbal test. DS struggled with both, which is what we expected, given both his verbal and visual difficulties. The psych feels that she got some good information from the subtests, but advised me that because of the very large amount of scatter in the subtest scores, the overall result (Full Scale IQ) is not accurate. Her report for the school will focus on DS's strengths and weeknesses as shown in the subtest. She also told me that DS presents with a very unsual learning profile that is why the school is having so much difficulty finding the right placement and methods for him.

[inmypjs]

That's great that you were able to use the psychologist who knows him and that your insurance covered it! I hope the scores are useful in helping him have a positive experience at school.